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Hook, Line and Stinker
Hook, Line and Stinker is a 1958 Looney Tunes short directed by Chuck Jones. Title The title is a pun on the angler's phrase "hook, line and sinker." Plot Road Runner (Burnius-Roadibus) races right to left along a stretch of desert highway, with Wile E. Coyote (Famishus-Famishus) behind him. The road runner stops and steps aside. Wile E. passes him and stops in a cloud of dust. The road runner then zips into the distance with the force lifting the ribbon of pavement off the ground in his wake. Wile E. lowers his expectations (and his mouth) and thinks of new schemes. 1. Wile E, on a cliff, drops a washtub on the road runner on the road below, jumps on it and puts a stick of dynamite underneath it. the road runner zips up to him. Wile E. goes under the washtub to investigate why the bird isn't there and the dynamite blows up, encasing Wile E. in a tube made from the washtub. 2. Wile E. hides around a corner to bash the road runner with a sledgehammer. But the hammer falls off and the stick bashes Wile E. and chases him into the distance. 3. Birdseed is place on some railroad tracks but a train runs down Wile E. before he can get off the runway. 4. Attached to a green balloon, Wile E. carrying a harpoon jumps off a cliff, tied to a rope. He misses the road runner, but the force carries him into a storm cloud. The harpoon attracts lightning which zaps Wile E. (and in turn, dissolving the rope, causing him to fall). 5. A bundle of dynamite is rolled beneath a short underpass. But gravity carries the bundle back to Wile E. hiding spot and one push of the plunger blows him up. 6. Using a rope and a pulley, Wile E. raises a baby grand piano high above the road. As the road runner passes, Wile E. lets go of the rope, which sticks in the pulley. Wile E. jumps on top of the piano, which loosens the rope and causes the piano - and Wile E. - to drop to the ground. Dazed, Wile E. opens his mouth to reveal that the piano keys are now his teeth; he plays "Taps" on them briefly before passing out. 7. An elaborate Rube Goldberg - type gag ends the cartoon. Wile E. uses a tiny slingshot to knock loose a stick holding up a watering can suspended on a wooden yardarm. The can tips and water pours onto a plant which has a wooden match attached to it. The plant grows and the match strikes against a rock and lights a stick of dynamite. On top of the dynamite is a boot with a brick in it. The blast sends the boot on top of a teeter board, which rises and releases a mouse in a cage at the other end. The mouse runs to grab a piece of cheese on a scale. A weight on the other end of the scale falls, pulling the trigger on a rifle attached to a cliff. A bullet from the rifle ricochets off two metal bull's eyes and knocks down an upright cannon. The wick on the cannon is lit by a nearby candle, which fires a ball that goes through two funnels and plummets on top of an unsuspected Wile E. After Wile E. is bashed into the ground, 'The End' appears on the cannonball. Musical Cues This is one of six cartoons (and the first of two Wile E./Road Runner cartoons) where the score is credited to John Seely of Capitol Records using stock music from the Hi-Q library because of a musicians' strike in 1958. The others are "Pre-Hysterical Hare", "Weasel While You Work", "Hip Hip-Hurry!" (the other Wile E./Road Runner cartoon), "Gopher Broke", and "A Bird in a Bonnet". The theme to the situation comedy television show Dennis the Menace composed by William Loose and Seely, and originally in the Hi-Q library, is not in this cartoon. A variant also written by the two for Hi-Q is used instead. Most of the background music was composed by Philip Green for the EMI Photoplay library and were give GR designations by that library. Some of the cues heard: * GR-463 The Artful Dodger (Green) in the first gag. * L-78 Comedy Underscore (Spencer Moore) and GR-255 Puppetry Comedy (Green) in the second gag. * GR-459 Dawn in Birdland and GR-97 By Jiminy! It's Jumbo Bridge No. 1 (both by Green) in the third gag. * GR-256 Toyland Burglar (Green) at the start and end of the fourth gag. * TC-303 Zany Comedy (Loose and Seely) in the sixth gag. This piece of music was also heard in many early Yogi Bear cartoons. * L-82 Comedy Underscore (Moore) at the start of the seventh gag. Availability * Super 8mm - Road Runner - RR701 (Techno Film) * VHS - Road Runner vs. Wile E. Coyote: The Classic Chase * VHS - Auntie Mame ''(part of ''Warner Night at the Movies) * VHS - The Looney Tunes Video Show, Volume 11 * VHS - Chariots of Fur (Bonus cartoon) * VHS - The Stars of Space Jam: Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote * DVD - Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 6, Disc 1 * Streaming - Boomerang App * DVD - Stars of Space Jam: Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote * DVD - Stars of Space Jam Collection Volume 1 Censorship * On ABC, two dynamite gags were cuthttp://www.intanibase.com/gac/looneytunes/censored-h.aspx: ** The scene where Wile E. places a pot over the Road Runner and tosses a dynamite stick underneath it. ** Wile E. putting dynamite underneath a bridge. Notes * The cartoon's production number is 1487. * With only 5 minutes and 3 seconds of footage (not counting the credits and cards), "Hook, Line and Stinker"' is the shortest Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner short ever made in the Golden Age of American animation. * This is the first time the Road Runner is seen frowning. Gallery 206923 10150155134203926 5944757 n.jpg|Lobby Card Road Runner frowning.png|The first instance where the Road Runner frowns Wile E. Coyote getting whacked.jpg Acme Birdseed on Railroad Tracks (Bad Idea).jpg References External Links Hook, Line and Stinker on the SFX ResourceCategory:1958 Category:Cartoons directed by Chuck Jones Category:Road Runner Cartoons Category:Shorts Category:Looney Tunes Shorts Category:Wile E. Coyote Cartoons Category:Cartoons with music by John Seely Category:Cartoons written by Michael Maltese Category:Cartoons animated by Richard Thompson Category:Cartoons with layouts by Philip DeGuard Category:Cartoons with backgrounds by Philip DeGuard Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown Category:Cartoons produced by John W. Burton Category:Cartoons with no dialogue